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Hotshot who survived Ariz. fire served as lookout

The Associated Press

Posted:
07/02/2013 05:18:08 PM MDT

Updated:
07/02/2013 09:39:47 PM MDT

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This Monday, July 1, 2013 photo made and provided by Arizona House Speaker Andy Tobin on a tour of the burn area shows the remains of a house destroyed by a wildfire in Yarnell, Ariz. The wildfire killed 19 firefighters on Sunday.

PRESCOTT, Ariz.—The lone survivor on an elite Arizona firefighting crew was serving as a lookout and relaying key information to his colleagues when a raging wildfire trapped and killed them, officials said Tuesday.

Brendan McDonough, 21, was in his third season with the 20-member, Prescott-based Granite Mountain Hotshots.

He was assigned to be a "heads-up on the hillside" for the team on that fateful afternoon two days ago, said Wade Ward, a Prescott Fire Department spokesman who relayed McDonough's story at an afternoon news conference.

Ward said McDonough "did exactly what he was supposed to" when conditions changed as his team fought the mountain blaze near the town of Yarnell, about 80 miles northwest of Phoenix.

Flags with the names of the fallen firefighters hang at a makeshift memorial outside the Granite Mountain Interagency Hotshot Crew fire station, Tuesday, July 2, 2013 in Prescott, Ariz. The elite crew of firefighters were overtaken by the out-of-control blaze battling a wildfire near Yarnell, Ariz., Sunday as they tried to protect themselves from the flames under fire-resistant shields. ((AP Photo/Chris Carlson))

He notified the other Hotshots that the weather was changing rapidly and told them the fire had switched direction because of the wind. He also told them he was leaving the area and to contact him on the radio if they needed anything, Ward said.

Ward received a standing ovation as he implored the media, "Please leave him alone."

McDonough "has no desire to speak to anybody at this point," he said. "He's trying to deal with the same things that we're all trying to deal with, but you can understand how that's compounded being there on the scene."

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Don Manafield pays his respects by playing a bagpipe at a makeshift memorial outside the Granite Mountain Interagency Hotshot Crew fire station, Tuesday, July 2, 2013, in Prescott, Ariz., honoring 19 firefighters killed battling a wildfire near Yarnell, Ariz., Sunday. The elite crew of firefighters were overtaken by the out-of-control blaze as they tried to protect themselves from the flames under fire-resistant shields. ((AP Photo/Chris Carlson))

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